Description of How Teacher Behaviors, School Funding, and Teacher Training Influence the Inclusion of World Music in Middle School Choral Curricula

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether or not Florida middle school choral directors included world music in their choral programs. For directors who did not include it, the study sought to determine if curricula goals, school funding, or teacher training were factors that influenced their decisions not to include it. Results of the study revealed the majority of Florida middle school choral directors included world music in their choral programs. A significant relationship was found between choral directors' who exhibited behaviors that suggested they valued world music and those who included it in their choral programs. Further findings indicated that there was a significant relationship between choral budget size and world music purchasing. However, outcomes revealed no significant relationship between years of teaching experience and adequate teacher training to teach world music. Also, there was no significant relationship between directors' self-evaluation of their training and their programming world music for performance. Furthermore, there was no relationship between directors who programmed world music and adequate teacher training.